Michael Rainbow has been coaching in the CHRVA region for over 13 years. Previously to CVA he was coaching with Virginia Elite as the Setting Technical Lead & 17 National Head Coach, 18 National Teams at both Maryland Juniors (2017), and Columbia Volleyball (2012-2017), and Brandywine Volleyball Club (2008). He has also coached High School most recently at Mount De Sales Academy & Liberty High School. 

Michael hails from Wilmington, Delaware and was a High School & Collegiate Volleyball player. He began coaching in 2000 at the club level, and continued on to coach at the high school and collegiately. Michael has coached players to All-American accolades at the college level, and numerous recognitions within the state, conference & county levels. He has had his players recruited to colleges such as University of Tennessee, UMBC, Quinnipiac, Bucknell, Clarion University, Delaware State, Liberty, Wilmington University, Morgan State, Holy Family, LaSalle, and Shepherd University. Currently he teaches and served as the Head Coach at Liberty High School in Eldersburg, MD from 2013-2018 where he was named 2014 & 2015 Carroll County Times Coach of the Year while winning back to back conference championships and a Regional Championship in 2015, and before that at Mount de Sales Academy in Catonsville. He is also the founder and Head Coach of M2 Volleyball Training based in Lansdowne, Maryland (www.m2volleyballmd.com), and continues to be a guest coach at collegiate camps and clinics around the county. Michael is an AVCA member, CAP 1 Certified, IMPACT, and First Aid & CPR/AED certified.

email: columbiaheadcoach@gmail.com

Coach Billy started playing volleyball freshman year in High School. He was a four-year Varsity player at Watkins Mill High School and captain for 2 years. He joined the military in 2009 and had the opportunity to travel the world and play volleyball with other international players in Japan, Korea, and Europe (Germany). Returning to the states in 2015 to finish his degree, he continues to play around the DMV area, In 2016, he started coaching club and as coached teams in every age group from 10u-18u. Then in 2017, he joined Quince Orchard as the Girls and Co-ed Varsity assistant coach. He continues to play around the area when he has time. He is currently in his third year as the Head Varsity coach at Northwest High School and second season with CVA. 

Volleyball is my passion and I love sharing what I know with my athletes.  Watching them develop is one of greatest joys!   Started playing at 12 as a setter but if I could do it over again I would totally want to be a libero. I am passionate about tactics, strategies and development of mindset!

As a coach I was named Howard county times, Baltimore sun and Washington Post All-Met Coach of the Year as the head coach at Reservoir High School while leading team to an undefeated State championship.  During my tenure at Reservoir I won numerous County, and Regional Championships. I have also coached Club Volleyball for over 10 years in the CHRVA Region taking multiple teams to USAV & AAU Junior Nationals. I look forward to my third season with CVA!

Autumn Jenkins attended and graduated from the University of Delaware in 2017. She was a four year starter for the University of Delaware Volleyball where she garnered not only CAA Player of the Week Honors multiple times, but was also named to the CAA All-Conference Team twice during her collegiate career.  While at UD she also coached and worked with athletes at Delaware Juniors as a Head and Assistant Coach. She then went overseas to London to study for her Masters in Business at the University of East London. During her time there she played for the University and Semi-Professionally. Following graduation she came back home to the states where she decided to keep pursuing a volleyball career. The next 2 years she played professionally in Copenhagen, Denmark and Limassol, Cyprus. In her off seasons over the summer she fills her time with coaching summer camps through All American Volleyball which spends 3 days at various high-schools along the East coast designing and running individualized camps. Volleyball has been so much more than a sport for Autumn, and she wants to be able to share and help create those same opportunities for athletes in the future! This is her 3rd year coaching with CVA.

email: columbia17red@gmail.com

 Coach Brad has been coaching in the CHRVA region since 2020 but has been involved in volleyball since his oldest daughter fell in love with the sport while living in Arizona. Being the nephew of a former Major League Baseball pitcher, baseball was his first passion but it quickly changed to volleyball.

After leaving the military after 11 years, Coach Brad was mentored by many quality coaches prior to formally coaching volleyball. He spent time in the Puget Sound (WA)Region as a parent-volunteer prior to coming to CHRVA. He has coached 14u and 18u during previous CHRVA seasons. This will be his first season with CVA.

He has been the varsity volleyball head coach at South Carroll High School since 2021. He led them to their first appearance in the State Tournament since 2007 in his first season. His team was the 1A State runner up in 2022. He has coached numerous 1st Team All County selections during his tenure at South Carroll.

Certifications include: NFHS Level 3, Certified Interscholastic Coach, IMPACT, First Aid and CPR/AED.

Amir Tabrizi has been coaching in the CHVRA region for over 16 years. He has coached all ages from 12's up to 17's. Amir has been the head coach for multiple national teams. Amir is no stranger to academy life. He was part of the DC United academy team since he was seven and even attended over 7 USMNT soccer camps and played for the U14, 15, 16, and 17 teams. Amir grew up playing soccer and volleyball; his mom was on the women's national Olympics team. Amir attended and graduated from Penn State University in 2014, where he continued playing soccer and volleyball. Amir was also on the QO high school coed team for three years. In his off time, Amir is an avid golfer while he runs three companies stretching across many industries. He is the Assistant coach at Northwest High School and looks forward to growing with that team. 

Coach Steven has been coaching in the CHRVA region for 9 seasons and is excited to return as the Head Coach of the 16 National team for his 3rd season with CVA. During the 2023 season, 16 Black finished as a top 10 team in the CHRVA region, finishing the year with a 40-35 record. In addition to his time coaching with CVA, Coach Steven has coached various National Teams (17, 16 and 14 National) at Baltimore Elite Volleyball Club and Carroll Vipers Volleyball Club. Highlights during his tenure with Baltimore Elite and Carroll Vipers include qualification for CHRVA Open Regionals in 2019, 2020 & 2021, numerous tournament wins at the Open level, and a 9th place finish (Gold Bracket) at the Northeast Qualifier in 2019.

Outside of coaching club volleyball, Coach Steven served as the Head Varsity Coach for St. Paul’s School for Girls (Brooklandville, MD), who compete in the IAAM A Conference, from 2018 - 2021. In 2019, the Gators finished 12-5 (10-4 IAAM A Conference regular season) and advanced to the IAAM Conference Semifinals as the #3 seed. During Coach Steven’s three seasons at SPSG the team garnered a 29-9 record (22-7 IAAM A Conference) resulting in four All-Conference selections. Coach Steven also served as the Varsity Assistant Coach at Winters Mill High School (Westminster, MD) in 2017, working primarily with the team’s libero (a First-Team All-Carroll County Selection) and passers.

Coach Steven graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2015 with a Bachelors in Biochemistry and Exercise and Sport Science. He competed with the  UNC-Chapel Hill Men’s Club Volleyball team from 2011 – 2015, starting at libero. He was selected to the All-Tournament Second-Team at NCVF (National Collegiate Volleyball  Federation) Nationals in 2013 and 2014. Coach

Steven is CAP 1 and IMPACT certified, Safesport trained and a member of the AVCA. He currently works as a Clinical Trial Manager with ICON plc, a global clinical research organization.

email: columbia16black@gmail.com

For Julie Poston volleyball has been a tradition. Her mother played collegiately and her three older sisters played for CVC . Julie started playing club volleyball in the 4th grade and played her entire club career with CVC . In addition to her experience playing for CVC , Julie has participated in the CHRVA High Performance program. Julie played varsity volleyball for 4 years while attending Reservoir High School , In 2007 the Gators were state finalists and in 2008 they won a state championship, with Julie receiving the Most Valuable Player award that year. Julie then went to play volleyball for Salisbury University for 4 years where her teams won two conference championships and were invited twice to the NCAA tournament making one Elite 8 appearance. While at Salisbury Julie made all conference three times. Julie has a minor in coaching from Salisbury University and this is the 8th season with CVA.

Emme is thrilled to be coaching another season at CVA! Her club volleyball career started off playing for CVA on the 12s team and 7 seasons later ended with a trip to Nationals with the 17s team. After playing club volleyball, and playing all 4 years at Mount Hebron High School, Emme went on to play NCAA Division III volleyball at McDaniel College as an outside hitter and graduated with a degree in Exercise Science. Additionally, she recently graduated from Johns Hopkins University with her masters in Special Education. Throughout the years, Emme has been the Head Coach and Assistant Coach for numerous club seasons, clinics, camps, and private sessions. Emme is currently working as a teacher and freshman volleyball coach at Reservoir High School.

Ashley is a native of Cape Cod, Massachusetts where she began her volleyball career under the tutelage of coach Tom Turco, the 2008 AVCA and 2012 NHSCA National Volleyball Coach of the Year. During her high school career, Ashley was a member of the team that earned accolades as the 2008 and 2009 Old Colony Champions, 2008 South Sectional Champions, and the 2008 Division I State Champions. During her club years, Ashley played multiple seasons for Cape Cod Juniors in addition to playing for Pilgrim Volleyball Club. After high school, Ashley continued her volleyball career playing for Bridgewater College, a Division III school in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, where she was a Defensive Specialist. Ashley has experience coaching numerous high school level skills camps and has coached at the 15s, 16s, and 17s levels for club. Ashley is excited to begin her fourth year with Columbia Volleyball Academy!

email: columbia15red@gmail.com

Hana is from Eldersburg, Maryland and played under Coach Mike in club and school since being a junior at Liberty HS. She was an All-American middle blocker at Susquehanna University before graduating  with a Masters Degree from Penn State U. She currently works in energy and really likes it. She’s also terrible at writing bios, but is looking forward to coaching this year!!

Lynn Paynter is the current Head Coach at River Hill High School in Clarksville, Maryland, and has been coaching at Columbia Volleyball Academy for more than 10 years! She brings a wealth of knowledge, and experience to our coaching staff while also drawing from her collegiate volleyball experience at William and Mary University. She has guided numerous club teams to regional championships, and USAV Open National bids during her time at Columbia as well as multiple county, regional, and state final appearances at the high school level.

email: columbia14black@gmail.com

Kristen started her volleyball career playing for Columbia Volleyball Club on the 12U Canaries and played for CVC for 7 years, finishing on the 18U Comets. She played varsity volleyball at Howard High School and earned All County First Team recognition as a right side hitter during her senior year. After graduating from Howard in 2013, Kristen went on to play NCAA Division III volleyball at Carnegie Mellon University. While at Carnegie Mellon, the Tartans had two appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and 2016 as well as one appearance in the UAA Conference finals in 2016. Kristen has been a coach with Columbia Volleyball Academy since 2017, primarily working with the 14U and 15U age groups. Kristen is also the JV coach and assistant Varsity coach at Howard High School. Kristen currently works at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab as a Data Analyst.

Tori Misiorowski joins CVA for her first season and 14th season coaching overall. She has played and coached in 5 different states, most recently with NRG Volleyball Club in Texas. She has coached club with every age group from 14-18 and served for 5 years as the Varsity head coach at Minneapolis South High School, where she took her program from the bottom of the conference to co-conference champions in 3 seasons. As a player she was a member of the 2005 Arizona State Runner-Up Pinnacle High School team and earned 2nd Team recognition. She continued her playing career at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon where she spent two years on the collegiate team before founding, playing for, and running operations for the school's women's club team, which competed around the Pacific Northwest as a member of the PIVA Volleyball League. She is a recent transplant to Maryland along with her husband and daughter and is excited to get to know the area and to be a part of the CVA family!

email: columbiared14@gmail.com 

I am a senior at Morgan State majoring in Electrical Engineering while minoring in Biology. I’ve been playing volleyball since 3rd grade. I am a former Morgan State volleyball player but due to injury I am medically retired. My position was a six rotation outside. I now serve as one of assistant coaches for Morgan State volleyball. I love coaching and being able to help teach the game is so rewarding. I hope to encourage and teach there is more to volleyball than just playing, to hopefully pass on all the joy this sport given me.

Alison played club volleyball for 6 years during middle and high school and played 3 of those years with Columbia. She also played varsity volleyball for 4 years while she was attending River Hill High School. She currently works at Lake Elkhorn Middle School teaching math and science. Alison has coached at OMHS for the last 7 years. Alison has both assisted and head coached at the 16s, 14s, and 13s for CVA, and is excited to return to Columbia for her 7th season.

email: columbia13black@gmail.com 

Coach Nya was born and raised in Columbia, MD. She has been an active member in the volleyball community since 2014. Coach Nya attended Oakland Mills High School and played volleyball for the Scorpions until 2017. After high school she attended Wesley College where she played NCAA Volleyball. Coach Nya has been coaching volleyball for 6 years and is looking forward to growing her coaching portfolio with CVA. She is currently coaching for Oakland Mills High School, giving back to a program that gave her so much. Coach Nya has a passion for the sport and is so excited to share her knowledge with future athletes.

Sakinah McDuffie hails from Gainesville, FL and has been in the Columbia, MD area for 5 years.  Coach Nikki, as she prefers, has been a part of Volleyball as a student, parent and coach for many years.  She recently completed her 5th year coaching at Oakland Mills High School here in Columbia, MD. Which has seen her coach at all 3 levels.  She has a daughter that played 2 years for Columbia Volleyball Academy, who is now a Senior playing at Alabama A&M University. Nikki is a 14-year Air Force Veteran, who prior to moving to Maryland, coached Volleyball in Florida at all levels from Recreation through Junior Varsity, as well as AAU, before stepping away to sit where many parents are now, enjoying her own student-athletes progress in their journey.  Her love for the game is fueled by empowering athletes with volleyball skills, the mindset, motivation, and confidence that is necessary both on and off the court. Nikki is excited to begin her second year with Columbia Volleyball Academy!

email: columbia13red@gmail.com

Originally from Milton, New Hampshire, where she played volleyball throughout her middle/ high school years, as well as a season for Great Bay Community College, prior to relocating to Tampa, FL in 2018. In Tampa, she continued to regularly play in adult leagues and attend clinics, learning new skills and coaching techniques along the way. After relocating to the DC metro area in 2021, she was the assistant coach for Metro 12 North for the 2021/2022 season, and is currently the JV head coach at Northwest High School in Germantown, MD. Currently working as an MSAT process specialist in the bioscience sector of pharmaceuticals, coaching is a passion outside of her full-time career, and joining CVA begins an exciting new chapter in her volleyball coaching journey!

Laura Britton is the Varsity Coach at Perry Hall High School,  where she has been for the past 14 years. Laura led the JV Gators to two County Championship appearances as well as maintaining at least a second place standing in their division for the last 5 years. This is her third year as the Head Coach of the Varsity program. Laura is very active in the Perry Hall volleyball community, starting a free after school clinic at the middle school to get girls active and interested in the sport for 6 years. Laura is also Director for the White Marsh Rec Council’s winter volleyball clinics and summer camps. Laura resides in Bel Air, Maryland with her husband and two children and is excited about her fifth year with Columbia!

email: columbia12red@gmail.com

Coach Paulina is from Perry Hall, MD. She has been playing volleyball since high school and also played club. She is currently attending Notre Dame of Maryland University and studying Business. She is also part of the volleyball team as a Libero/DS/OH. This is her first year assisting coaching and is so excited to be part of the CVA family.

email: colmbiaredhornets@gmail.com 

Coach Monica has been in the area since 2004 and a huge part of the volleyball community.  She began her coaching career in Arizona where she is from, and continued that endeavor in Germany for 3 years at Ansbach High School,  and then Maryland at Mount De Sales Academy in 2005. She started as the JV Head Coach and in 2009 became the Varsity Head Coach.  During her time there the team became the IAAM "A" Conference Champions in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015, and were runner ups in 2014. Coach Monica was part of the staff of Columbia Volleyball Club from 2008-2011, Bay Area Volleyball Academy 2011-2012, Columbia Volleyball Club 2013-2016, Maryland Juniors Volleyball Club 2017-2019 and has been the Assistant Club Head Coach of Columbia Volleyball Academy 2020 to present, assisting with the the club’s clinics, camps, and mentoring the coaches of the club.  

She enjoys coaching the future of the sport and instilling the values needed to be a positive player on and off the court as well as mentoring the future of talented coaches. She is CAP I and IMPACT Certified.  She is a middle school Physical Education in Anne Arundel County. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her daughter, her dog Ryder, and of course going on Jeep Adventures.

Coach Riley Kratzer is a native of Lancaster, PA where she played volleyball at Hempfield High School and received all state recognition and two state championships from 2006-2010. After high school, Riley followed her dreams and worked for Nike at their World Headquarters in Oregon. While on the west coast, she was given the amazing opportunity to coach alongside Steve Suttich at The Oregon Junior Volleyball Academy. Primarily training 16-18 year olds in academy style training pods for the last six years. After recently moving back to the east coast in 2020, Riley stepped in as the interim volunteer/assistant coach at Towson University for the 2020 season where the Tigers won the CAA and made a trip to the NCAA tournament. Riley has been with CVA for one year and will be continuing her coaching as the Assistant to the Director of Academies.

email: columbiaacademylead@gmail.com

Chelsea was born in Arizona but considers Maryland her home. She resides in Howard County. She began her volleyball career at Columbia Volleyball starting with the 12s and continued to play there for 7 years as well as one year at Bay Area Volleyball Academy. For high school, she went to Mount de Sales Academy

and set for the Varsity team since her freshman year. The team was the IAAM ‘A’ Conference champions in 2009 & 2010 and were finalists in 2011. She was selected for the Baltimore Sun All-Metro 1st team in 2011 and 2012 as well as IAAM All-Star team her sophomore, junior, and senior year. After graduating high school in 2013, Chelsea continued her playing career at Bridgewater College, a Division III school in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference for two seasons. Her freshman year they reached the semi-finals of the conference championships. She was a Defensive Specialist. Chelsea has grown up around volleyball since she was little and has always shown a passion for teaching the game to others. She looks forward to instilling the same passion of the game to her team as well as coaching the girls to be the best they can be on and off the court. Chelsea has helped out at various high school level camps and clinics. This will be her fifth season coaching club volleyball and fourth at Columbia Volleyball Academy. Chelsea is a Licensed Massage Therapist and has her Masters in Sports Science and Rehabilitation. She is excited to be part of the CVA family!

Alexa attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, played volleyball and was on the swim team all 4 years, achieving WCAC Honorable Mention for volleyball her Senior year.  She additionally played club volleyball for Platform Volleyball Club for 3 of those years, taking on the role of Libero for her teams. Since graduating High School, Alexa has assisted with multiple Good Counsel volleyball summer camps and continues to play with her younger sisters and friends from High School.  She was the Head Coach for the Norbeck Grove Barracudas swim team in Montgomery County for 3 Summers during her college years after swimming for them for 14 years. She also swam on the Club Swim Team at Virginia Tech all 4 years where she qualified for the National Championship Club Swim meet each year. Alexa graduated from Virginia Tech in 2019, receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. She currently works as a Senior Accountant at WillScot Mobile Mini in Baltimore and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Elayna Williams is from Ellicott City, Maryland. She spent her entire club career playing for Columbia from age 11 to 17. Elayna attended Mount Hebron High School, where she was named First Team All-County by the Howard County Times in 2015. In 2016, Elayna was named Player of the Year in Howard County, named First Team All-County by the Howard County Times and First Team All-Metro by the Baltimore Sun. Elayna started her collegiate career playing volleyball at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County as an outside hitter. She continued and finished her career at Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 2022 and obtaining a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Elayna is now a Manufacturing Engineer for a medical device company in Baltimore and enjoys staying involved in the game of volleyball wherever possible!

Holly took up the sport of volleyball at the age of 10 and never looked back. She played club volleyball for 5 years during middle and high school, including two years with Columbia on the 15U Typhoon and 16U Thunder teams. After playing varsity volleyball for Mount Hebron High School, Holly went on to play NCAA Division III volleyball at Muhlenberg College as an outside hitter. As captain of the Mules, Holly led her team to the Centennial Conference finals in both 2013 and 2014. She was also named to the conference honor roll 3 times and named Centennial Conference Player of the Week. Holly is currently a graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park where she is working on her doctorate in women’s history. Holly is super excited to be returning for her fourth season with the all new Columbia Volleyball Academy!

email: columbiared16@gmail.com